THE
FINAL CHAPTER TO THIS BLOG
JUNE
2010 TO MAY 2013
May
21, 2013
This was Dawn’s trip; something that was at the
very top of her bucket list…she is thrilled with it and how it turned out. It
will be difficult to settle down now and frankly we’re skeptical we can. We may
want to line up house buyers to buy our place even before we buy it! Already the plans are forming for another trip, albeit
much shorter at two months or so, to Namibia and Botswana in 4x4s with friends
from France. We’ll see if that comes together.
Now another chapter begins. Where does it lead? With whom? What lessons are coming our way? As always, we have no idea and are accepting things simply as they come.
There are stats on this three year travel-fest that
some may be interested in but believe us when we say they have nothing to do
with the amazement factor we experienced in this three year odyssey.
-
No.
of countries…23
-
Countries
travelled in…Canada, United States, France, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Austria,
Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Spain,
Morocco, Portugal, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Czech Republic, Poland,
Slovakia, Hungary. Some of these were travelled in many times over.
-
Total
kilometers travelled…70,000 km
-
Date
begun…June 19, 2010
-
No
of days…1,096
-
No.
of pictures (kept)…11,000
Somewhat related, but not really,
One of the questions people often ask us is “Where
or what have you enjoyed the most in all your travels?”. Here is our list gleaned from decades of
travel in fifty-two countries. They are in no particular order except that the
Moroccan desert was probably the best and had the biggest “WOW!!” factor.
Switzerland: Rte. 19 Brig to Disentis; also Disentis to
Biasca
Austria: Rte. 107 Bruck to Winklern and to Franz
Joseph Hohe
France: Mont St. Michel; the Pyrenees; Lascaux caves;
Alsace Wine Route; Paris; the Alps; Puy du Fou; the food; the wine
Australia: the Great Barrier Reef; the beaches
New Zealand: Christchurch; west coast of the South Island;
Nelson; Mount Cook National Park; the people
USA: Fountain Hills, AZ; Maui, HI; the national parks
of the western US
Canada: Lake Louise; Valley of the Ten Peaks;
Icefields Parkway; Peggy’s Cove; Cape Breton Island; Wapta Icefields; Pacific
Rim National Park; any of the parks in Alberta and British Columbia
Peru: Machu Pichu; Lake Titicaca; the high Andes
Bolivia: Condoriri and the surrounding mountains; Lake
Titicaca
Nepal: Chukkung Valley; all of the Himalaya region;
the high mountain culture of the locals
India: Sarnath; Varanasi; the Taj Mahal; the people
Thailand: the forever smiles; the Golden Buddha; the
Jade Buddha, the people
Indonesia: Borabadur; the rice paddies in Bali; the
people
Japan: Buddhist temples of Kyoto; the people
Kenya: Masai Mara National Park; the Masai people; the
wildlife
Egypt: Pyramids of Giza; Valley of the Kings
Italy: Tuscany; the Dolomites; Rome; the food; the
wine
Norway: Route 13 toward Bergen; the fjords of the
west coast; the people
Morocco: the southern desert; each sand dune; all the
gorges in the central area; the food
…and any place which is right here, wherever we
are.
Above all…
Thanks to all the people in the last three
years whom we met and with whom we travelled, drank, partied, argued, laughed,
cried, sang…all of whom we learned from greatly. Travellers soon realize that
travelling is not being a tourist…it is being a traveller…someone who is in no
hurry, who sees and listens, who learns…and laughs a lot at things that happen.
It is about using all our human senses to let in all the experiences and to
fully appreciate the entire world as it is and what it has to offer, all
without judgement. Things that we see are all great but it is the people we
come across that make the trips, the memories, the smiles. We are all on this
same path together. We are all the same.
Thanks so much to all of you.
You will never fully realize
how much we have appreciated being in your presence.
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